Hilo

We didn't spend too much time in Hilo, but it provided a good base of operations for us. We flew in there from Honolulu on our arrival in the islands, Sally flew back over to O'ahu after the volcanoes section of our visit, and then Henry and Kathy, after their Big Island circumnavigation, flew back to Honolulu a few days later. Hilo is a nice-sized town, with sufficient amenities and relatively good prices for lodging. There are some interesting-sounding sights around town, too, that we unfortunately didn't have time for. Maybe on our next trip.

Here are the few pictures we took in Hilo. First, from our hotel room (the Hilo Hawaiian, located on the aptly named Banyan Drive) looking at the park across the street and the other way, toward the harbor:

The front of the hotel had plenty of Christmas decorations, which we saw in abundance where ever we went (that's Henry with our cute little rent car):

The Hilo Airport is a beautiful place, with open-air walkways, lots of tropical landscaping, and it's a perfect size, very easy to get where you need to go. And look at this departure lounge! If you got stranded here for a while, I'm sure you could not be more comfortable: